Hidden in the Leaves
by grassyhyuuga
Summary: A collection of drabbles, mostly character studies, set generally in the "founders" era.
1. Suspended Disbelief (Tobirama)

He can understand where the rumours of his heart being made of ice — no, stone, because ice _melts_ — came from.

Tobirama is standing at his brother's funeral, and he has yet to shed a single tear. He avoids looking at his sister-in-law, at anyone. It's inappropriately sunny, and, usually, he would appreciate the irony.

Not today.

Once again, Hashirama has performed one of his typical deeds of selflessness by selfishly dying.

It is an odd mixture of guilt and anger that keeps him from grieving.

(No matter how brutally he tramples his hopes, he still expects the man to land in the midst of black-clad mourners in a shower of leaves.)


	2. In The Back (Hashirama, Madara)

All throughout the battle, he has never shied away from meeting Madara's eyes. A wavering gaze is an obvious sign of weakness, and he cannot afford to even appear weak. Half, if not more, of warfare is psychological.

Instead of looking _into_ his eyes, however, he looks through them, beyond them, into peaceful futures of unborn children.

Hashirama knows if he imagines even a splinter of anything redeemable he would be lost.

So he stabs him from behind and does not see blood-red eyes come alive.

He leaves without checking for a pulse, head bowed with the weight of duty.


	3. Haunted (Tobirama)

A child patters after Tobirama, the squeak of small sandals soundless to all but him.

For as long as he can remember, this child has followed him everywhere. When he goes to bed, the child sits, cross-legged, at his feet.

The child never speaks, but the accusations in its eyes are enough. Sometimes, it wears Itama's face. Those days are the worst. Over the years, he has lost count of its many masks.

_(Homura Kawamara Hiruzen Tsunade Koharu)_

He keeps no secrets from his brother except this one — how can one claim to be sane and haunted at the same time?

He never marries.

* * *

**Notes**: This is rather darker than anything I'd expected to write. (I'm also getting better at keeping the word count close to 100.) Lastly, here's a shout-out to the "Random Person" anon who seems to enjoy fic set in the "founders" era. I hope you stick around for the longer fic that I'm still planning at the moment!


	4. (Un)truths (Tobirama)

Tobirama has stated repeatedly that he does _not_ have anything in particular against the Uchiha.

(He lies. They bother him more than other potentially mutinous clans.)

There is just something off about a clan that seems to value power above all else.

(He knows but will never admit that the Senju are much the same.)

Their eyes are creepy and filled with dangerous fire.

(He conveniently ignores the colour of his own eyes.)

The way they operate with blind passion is disgraceful for a clan that prides itself on its sight.

(He will never admit that he is, in a way, envious.)

* * *

**Notes**: I'm not so keen on this one. It's a bit unsure and shaky.


	5. The History of Fire (Hashirama, Mito)

If Hashirama is a bonfire, bright, attractive, and larger-than-life, then Mito is slow-burning embers.

He had been pledged to her cousin. She had been sent as an accompanying attendant on Naha's first trip to Konoha. In truth, the role she fulfilled was more bodyguard than maid, not that Naha _needed_ a maid. (There is no such thing as a spoiled Uzumaki.)

If Hashirama warms, then Mito ignites.

"May I speak with my betrothed?"

"It is midnight."

She pins him with dark, smouldering eyes and they are lost. Cousin Naha is prettier, her body more delicate and her features finer, but it is not fiery _hair_ that he wants.

If Hashirama goes out in a tempest of flames, then Mito endures, until the last of the coals of duty lose their glow and crumble to ashes.

* * *

**Notes**: I took the liberty of creating a random Japanese name for Mito's cousin. Since Mito is probably taken from the name of a prefecture capital in Japan, I chose one that sounded vaguely like a name from a list of capital cities. (Hopefully it doesn't translate into something odd.)


	6. Nomenclature (Team Tobirama)

_Team Tobirama._

He hates that name.

Homura is burnished steel, refined by fire and polished by a sharp wit. Behind those glasses is a paradoxical alloy of hard will and brittle insecurites, unyielding to the end.

Koharu is selfless, though she hides this supposed weakness with a cutting tongue and razor-fast reflexes. She sees more than the others combined.

Hiruzen is their torch, and every one of them follows him whether knowing or unknowingly.

They all love the village, but they are not _him_.

They are better. (So he hopes.)


	7. Soiled (Hyuuga Clan)

Out of all the clans in Konoha, the Hyuuga are the most uncommunicative.

Their eyes are cloudy to the most perceptive, opaque milk to the unobservant. The sharp angles of their features speak of nothing but noble breeding and fleeting childhoods. Their postures boast of thick blood and thin limbs and hours upon hours of grueling training, both mental and physical. Their accent, with its deliberate lilt and archaic tones, reinforces an ancient sense of superiority.

Yet that is all they reveal. Their garb and fighting style are white and pure in the eyes of the outside world.

Behind the pale veil nothing is pure except, perhaps, their blood, and even that bleeds true and red. Those with unmarked foreheads live lives of guilt and fear and self-denial. Those with marked foreheads know nothing except bitter resignation and angry fate.

Only Hyuuga eyes can see the sordidness of it all.

* * *

**Notes**: Clan politics will play a role in the fic that I'm planning, so this was a first attempt at tackling the Hyuuga.


End file.
